Curb on foreign workers puts lives at risk

The introduction of regulations restricting the number of foreign aid workers is threatening the vital work of charities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Africa’s newest nation.

A bill passed by the South Sudan Parliament on 2 February limits the number of foreign workers to 20 per cent and requires NGOs to obtain clearance from the Government. The agencies fear the new rules will hamper the delivery of aid in the country, where an estimated 30,000 people are facing imminent starvation, and 3.6 million are facing food shortages. Many need life-saving medicines.

“The law puts at risk the lives of many people who depend on relief aid for their survival. We may also see the possible closure of some of the NGOs ” said Edmund Yakani, the executive director, Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), a leading advocacy NGO in South Sudan.

NGOs can only be registered if they submit a government performance report, audited financial report, assets list, plans and budgets and the list of local and foreign staff. Local Sudanese do not have the education and experience to take upper-level posts with NGOs.

Speaking from the capital, Juba, Gabriel Yai, director of Caritas South Sudan told The Tablet on Monday that the charity had applied to renew its registration but had been told to wait for the new regulations.
UN agencies, the International Committee of the Red Cross,

the Red Crescent Movement and the South Sudan Red Cross are exempt from registration.

The country entered into a new phase of civil war in December 2013, following a bitter political dispute between President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar. The dispute ignited a series of revenge killings that spread from Juba to the countryside, displacing more than 2 million people.